It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs from 1996 to 2011, and its individual chapters were collected and published in 27 tankōbon volumes .

The title character of the series, Excel, is a key member of the group who is working towards completing this goal, while the city is being defended by a shadowy government agency led by Dr. Kabapu.

Across consists of the leader of the organization, Il Palazzo, and his young adult officers: the enthusiastic and energetically devoted Excel and the soft-spoken Hyatt, who is prone to fainting and losing lots of blood at a time.

Excel and Hyatt live in an apartment building in the city, along with their pet dog Menchi, who they have deemed their emergency food supply.

The Department's leader, Dr. Kabapu, also has a grandiose plan on stopping Across; he has the City Security workers dress in Super Sentai-like uniforms and sends them on different missions.

Hyatt is captured and Excel and Elgala are later held in an immigrant detention center before being rescued by Il Palazzo, who begins the new phase of his plans.

The anime adaptation introduces some original characters: immigrant worker turned wandering spirit Pedro; alien mascot-like creatures called Puchuu; and The Great Will of the Macrocosm, the last of whom occasionally resets the storyline.

The anime director Shinichi Watanabe cameos as an afro-wearing guy named Nabeshin, and a caricature of the manga artist also makes appearances.

[4][5] Excel Saga is set in Fukuoka City and the names of characters and organisations are derived from local locations and buildings.

[6] Victor Entertainment contacted Shōnen Gahōsha about adapting Excel Saga into an anime, and the two companies approached Rikdo.

[7] The anime production staff was given the freedom to do anything they wanted as long as they kept the theme of the series intact, and Rikdo requested they created a separate timeline; this departure from the original work was acknowledged in-story, with each episode opening with a caricature of Rikdo giving "Nabeshin" permission to diverge from the source material, hence the anime's "Quack Experimental" tagline.

[4] The series began serialization in 1996 in Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs and finished in August 2011.

[15] The Viz edition includes a section called Oubliette, which consists of a sound effects guide and production and cultural notes.

[19] Victor Entertainment produced the music of the series, which was composed and arranged by Toshio Masuda and directed by Keiichi Nozaki.

[21][22] The series was licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by ADV Films and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

Mike Crandol of Anime News Network puts it in the same class as Airplane!, National Lampoon, Tex Avery, and Monty Python, adding that the "combination of character-based humor, outrageous slapstick farce, and a plot that is engaging if only for how weird it is make for a thoroughly enjoyable comedic experience".

[8] A contrary opinion is expressed by Joel Pearce from DVD Verdict, who says the series is "occasionally clever and funny," but that "much of it is gratingly obnoxious".

[8][46] Reviewers especially appreciated the English voice acting: Crandol calls it brilliant, and several note that Calvello and Wolcott were each able to capture Mitsuishi's Excel.

[40] Akadot's reviewer of the manga writes that "some of the strange events go on a little too long and do not have the impact that they do animated," but that Rikdo's Excel Saga is "graced with fantastic visuals and a hilarious story," and that the English edition is "a masterpiece of the translator's skill.